CRENO: An ontology to model concepts relating to culture, race, ethnicity, and nationality for health data.

Generating categories and classifications is a common function in life science research; however, categorizing the human population based on "race" remains controversial. There is an awareness and recognition of social-economic disparities with respect to health which are sometimes impacted by someone's ethnicity or race. This work describes an endeavor to develop a computable ontology model to represent a standardization of the concepts surrounding culture, race, ethnicity, and nationality - concepts misrepresented widely. We constructed an OWL ontology based on reliable resources with iterative human expert evaluations and aligned it to existing biomedical ontological models. The effort produced a preliminary ontology that expresses concepts related to classes of ethnic, racial, national, and cultural identities and showcases how health disparity data can be linked and expressed within our ontological framework. Future work will explore automated methods to expand the ontology and its utilization for clinical informatics.

Transportation Among Returning Citizens: "You Just Want to Stay Down and Get High".

The United States is releasing more individuals from prisons than ever before. However, returning citizens face numerous challenges transitioning back into community life and many communities remain ill-equipped in successfully supporting them. This study focuses on transportation as in integral component to the success of returning citizens. Rapid and rigorous qualitative data analysis (RADaR technique) is applied to interviews (n = 15) with individuals having returned to their community about the impact of transportation on their reentry. Analysis resulted in three primary themes; interviewees reinforced existing knowledge of the issues with transportation disadvantage, transportation is an extension of freedom, and transportation is directly connected to reentry success. These findings suggest a tiered structure of transportation freedom for returning citizens. This model of transportation will aid future researchers and policymakers in considering how to better resource returning citizens to maximize their success.

Understanding School Sabotage Among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence From Diverse Populations.

Higher education is an important pathway to safety for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent work documents tactics of school sabotage (behaviors aimed at sabotaging educational efforts) identified by school staff and IPV advocates. However, the perspectives of current students who are IPV survivors are unexplored. As part of a multiphasic study, 20 semi-structured qualitative interviews with community college students who reported current or recent IPV were conducted. Identified tactics included disrupting child care, emotional abuse tied to school, and using manipulation to limit access to campus or resources. Identified impacts include preventing focus, diminished academic achievement, emotional or mental health challenges, and instilling a desire to overcome.

Improving graduation rates for African Americans in drug court: Importance of human relationships and barriers to gaining and sustaining employment.

Drug courts have been an important part of the criminal justice system since 1989. They continue to expand throughout the United States because nearly three decades of research has shown that they are more effective than other interventions, such as traditional probation. There is a pattern, though, in some drug courts where African Americans are less likely to graduate than their Caucasian counterparts. This qualitative study explores this phenomenon by asking African American participants (n = 31) their views on the most helpful aspects of drug court and how drug court could be more helpful in supporting them in graduating the program. Participants felt that the respect and compassion they received from the drug court judge and their case managers, as well as the camaraderie they developed with other participants, was an aspect of drug court that supported them in graduating the program. Next, participants felt that graduation rates would improve if drug court better supported them in gaining employment or sustaining the employment they already had. Implications for drug court practice are discussed.

Intimate Partner Violence Myths in Police Reports: A Directed Content Analysis.

Although much has changed in social and criminal justice system responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) since public awareness campaigns began in the 1970s, stigmatization around IPV offense and victimization remains a barrier to victims obtaining available assistance, including those offered by police forces. Unfortunately, stigma is often perpetuated by mythology about the crime, its offenders, its victims, and overarching gender norms. Since IPV cases are managed under the auspices of the criminal justice system, the manner in which the system itself perpetuates IPV myths is worthy of attention. Prior literature suggests that police officers may be vulnerable to this mythology in their decision-making and reporting of IPV calls. This is troubling for IPV victims and offenders alike, since police reports follow them through the criminal justice system and associated IPV intervention programs. A report heavily influenced by IPV mythology is unlikely to serve IPV offenders or victims particularly well. Guided by four popular IPV myths identified in Eigenberg et al.'s (2012) study, the purpose of the present qualitative study of IPV in police reports (N = 58) is to explore the influence of IPV mythology on police officers' decision-making and intervention. One overarching theme emerged after the analysis: undetected coercive control evident in the cases. Implications on improvement in police training are suggested.

Suicidality and Other Health Risk Behaviors among Female Youth in Juvenile Detention.

This study investigates suicidality and health-risk behaviors among female juvenile detainees and identifies the extent to which suicidal behaviors are correlated with other risky activities. This study also explores 12 health risk behaviors, their prevalence, and relative associations to suicidal behaviors within the sample-population. Researchers collected data from 104 female adolescents, ages 12 to 20, residing in a long-term, detention center in the southeastern region of the United States. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were utilized. Suicidal ideations (40%) and suicide attempts (34%) were highly prevalent among female juvenile detainees. Results also suggest that the persistence of suicidal ideations was significantly influenced by exposure to various forms of interpersonal violence. Despite increased exposure to psychosocial factors strongly correlated to suicidal and high risk behaviors, little attention has been given to this particular population. Research recommendations are also discussed.